‘It’s a storm in a tea cup’ – Purton keen to move on after stinging Lake Forest criticism

Zac Purton has responded to Maureen Haggas after she accused him of giving Lake Forest “about the worst ride I think I’ve ever seen in my entire life” in the King Charles III Stakes at Randwick.

Trained by her husband William and co-owned by Brighton & Hove Albion chairman Tony Bloom, Lake Forest won the highly valuable Golden Eagle in Australia last year and was well fancied for the Group One at the weekend, only to finish last of 12.

Speaking to Racing TV on Wednesday evening Haggas said: “As far as I’m concerned, Lake Forest never had a race. It was about the worst ride I think I’ve ever seen in my entire life. I was appalled, absolutely appalled.

“We went all that way and, I mean I don’t know Zac Purton at all, but it was just dreadful and so disappointing. Everyone knows you have to tell him he’s got to do it and he knew that and was told it, but he just sat there. I was horrified, I really was.”

Hong Kong-based superstar Purton, who on the same card won the world’s richest turf race, The Everest, on Ka Ying Rising, told Nick Luck’s Daily podcast: “She’s entitled to her opinion and if she wants to wear that, that is her prerogative.

“He was a bit of a handful in the parade ring, which I was told was what he was like, and he was a bit of handful going to the gates, but I’d also been told that. He was a bit buzzy behind the gates and a bit of a ratbag when in them, but I’d been told that was his character so that didn’t worry me.

“He jumped out well, got a bit of a squeeze after a couple of hundred metres but after that he was a bit fired up, on and off the bit with a muddling pace but when they quickened from the 500 metre (two and a half furlongs out) he was off the bit and gave me no response.

“I was following Ceolwulf who put seven lengths between us, but he was the right horse as he went on to win.

“The race didn’t pan out as we’d like, but the reality is the horse didn’t turn up on the day either for whatever reason.

“The reality is he wasn’t responding to my riding, ironically in the UK you can’t use the whip that many times, he wasn’t responding to it and what else can you do, we have whip rules and you have to abide by them, sometimes horses just don’t turn up and he didn’t turn up.

“He’s going to Flemington now and I hope he performs down there and wins for them as that would make their trip a little bit better, but it is what it is sometimes. They haven’t rung me for the ride, but I think we race in Hong Kong that day!”

He added: “It’s a storm in a tea cup, it means nothing to me and she’s entitled to her opinion but I haven’t watched the replay as I’ve been too busy watching the replay of The Everest, but now that she’s pointed out a mistake I might watch it – but it’s not going to change anything is it.”